The Best You Ever Encountered (The Goat Thread).

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A true Shadowbane sub-forum needs a true Shadowbane thread. I still feel that true Shadowbane threads, at least the most memorable ones, have good arguments, oft bitterly contested by differing parties. The impact of such a thread will typically be greater if players have a genuine emotional commitment to the issue discussed. Allow me to cut to the chase: I'm a little bored and would like to drop a potential grenade. This may not be the best topic for such an endeavor, but I know that it has potential and will be read (explained why in a moment). So I want everyone to indulge the rest of the community with their opinions on the best player they have ever encountered in any respect, or even the GOAT (greatest of all time) in any particular endeavor. There are no preset categories. You can write about something typical, like the best siege commander you've encountered or the best priest player in your opinion; you could write about something a little less recognized, like the best tactical leader in small-scale PvP operations; you could even identify the best boobs you've seen on a SB player, but be sure to PM those fotos pronto.

The only catch, or preset condition, is that I'm arbitrarily imposing a cap on only selecting three GOATs of your choosing, at least in your original response. If you want to reply to someone else's GOATs and mention an additional player who better exemplifies the GOAT in that category, you can. This is to encourage debate as opposed to AoE ego fellatio. Otherwise we would see BraveSirRobin enumerating every individual in one of Unknewn's old craptastic 300-themed sigs. And we want a little debate. Let's liven the place up a bit.

I've been in enough different SB guild Ventrilo/TeamSpeak servers to know that most veteran players hold strong opinions on the topic of which players were the greatest at what. From my experiences, many SB guild associations are built upon players who are like-minded on this issue in particular. If guild-mates (or aspiring guild-mates) do not have shared experience playing on the same side in the past, and maybe they even have shared experience opposing one another bitterly, that gap can often be closed by agreement on who was good and who wasn't. If they hold disagreement on this issue, a voice comm ego-infused squabble is virtually inevitable. This may sound peculiar to outsiders, but veterans should know what I'm talking about. Most of us have been in Vent servers where these arguments break out, and sometimes such arguments can lead to bitter resentment and feuds. Players are often very protective of old leaders.

Someone may, for example, blurt out that "Skorpion" was his favorite bane commander, with another responding that he's overrated, ultimately followed with partisans breaking into different camps and a bitter verbal dispute breaking out. If you don't accept the veracity of the overall position, try out an experiment for yourself. If someone puts guild acronyms in their signatures, get in their Vent and tell them know that in your personal opinion that guild was god awful. Want to make old FTP members get very defensive or maybe even leave Vent? Let 'em know that bry was an overrated gimp. "But - but - he was so leet." Did you just get recruited by QFT and want to break the ice? Talk about aracoix chucker specs and Dread server being leet. New to -X-? "Damn, those shade deflocks were the shizzz maaaaan." This is a very powerful social aspect of the game and can be manipulated for a variety of different ends. Ignore it at your own peril. Peekachew would have a lot more luck with joining new guilds if he didn't have such strong opinions on the subject - and such widely rejected opinions, too. You may have noticed that he'll quickly develop resentment toward other players and vice versa due to the strength of any disagreement. Let Peeka know that you like his ghoul group bro spec group idea, though, and he'll be your best friend. This doesn't apply to just Peekachew, but most SB veterans, if not all.

To cut this short (I think the the above WoT is sufficiently imbecile-proof), give us your list of the three best players you've ever encountered in three different categories of your choosing. If you have an itch to mention more players, scratch that itch by dumping on someone else's list and correcting them. Carry on!

Oh wait, maybe I should start? Well, for starters, (1) I am quite clearly the coolest Shadowbane player of all-time based upon all of my unique accomplishments. It helps my argument for #1 that I'm also, all-around, (2) the best looking Shadowbane player of all-time and (3) the most charismatic Shadowbane player of all-time. I'm sure I'll get to elaborate more on this later. I'd also say that I'm the most brilliant but that practically goes without saying and I'm trying to incite an argument here.

Don't worry, I promise that I'll talk about other great players, but it's going to have to be at the expense of someone else's list. Looking forward to any lists by players from servers I've played on, seriously 'n stuff.

Scourge of the Shadowbane community, Public Enemy No. 1 to the SBEMU Forum Moderators, and member of the "Suppressed Person" faction on the Ubiforums. The man responsible for hooking up Ceska and CheckYoTrack. Also a 21-time World Heavyweight Champion of Shadowbane.

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Oh wait, maybe I should start? Well, for starters, (1) I am quite clearly the coolest Shadowbane player of all-time based upon all of my unique accomplishments. It helps my argument for #1 that I'm also, all-around, (2) the best looking Shadowbane player of all-time and (3) the most charismatic Shadowbane player of all-time. I'm sure I'll get to elaborate more on this later. I'd also say that I'm the most brilliant but that practically goes without saying and I'm trying to incite an argument here.

Don't worry, I promise that I'll talk about other great players, but it's going to have to be at the expense of someone else's list. Looking forward to any lists by players from servers I've played on, seriously 'n stuff.

Rule #1 in these threads is typically that you can't nominate yourself to win.

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Eastre, hands down for me. He would win for best bane commander, best target caller and best PVP'er all in one. I think only those who have shared a vent with him during a really tough bane can truly appreciate how damn good he was. As for open town PVP he could take his toon and beat the sheet out of yours and then take your toon and beat his.

Very honorable mention to Dru, we have a lot of great players but Dru stands above.

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Rule #1 in these threads is typically that you can't nominate yourself to win.

Yeah, I know. Trying to attract some flames and get the party started. You're too clever to get baited by that sort of tactic, though. I think I could make an argument for coolest player ever, but the other ones have nothing to do with gameplay.

Scourge of the Shadowbane community, Public Enemy No. 1 to the SBEMU Forum Moderators, and member of the "Suppressed Person" faction on the Ubiforums. The man responsible for hooking up Ceska and CheckYoTrack. Also a 21-time World Heavyweight Champion of Shadowbane.

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Not sure why people give Skorp crap for bane commander, but he seriously was the best Vent commander I've ever had (sorry chet).

I don't have 3 other categories. I'm lame. I can think of a ton of categories, just not any I've had experience with like best priest, best assy, best city builder (really they're all the same), etc. Most scouts are bird scouts and I refuse to put a bird in the nomination for best scout.

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Rule #1 in these threads is typically that you can't nominate yourself to win.

Best Scout - Vandarr fo sho. (Best PvP scout imo)

Best SCOUT SCOUT was Agelmar on Treachery....that fool would find a hidden group out in the middle of nowhere, nowhere near a zone, out in the mountains ect...then he'd run out of stam and die to said group (City: Guys I found them!) (Agelmar of Endless Stand has been slain by GoofyPuck101 of YoLoHiTsQuAD)

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Varg's extremely well built 1v1 thief. Probably the most undefeated 1v1 thief dueler.

Exarch Deathwing, hurlbird build. Scariest person to encounter in the wild by yourself.

F@T Keith for being that one guy who would believe in you to the end of a bane win or lose.

It's all limited perspective though, since I mostly think of Shadowbane as early to mid Vengeance. There are plenty of people in launch, but the meta game was pretty singular towards massive conflict. Vengeance was a real arena with builds and counters all over the place. It also had the highest concentration of players from the original servers.

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Yeah, it's all mixed situations. I was think of scouts and GvG being situational.

For scouts, there's birds and then everyone else. There's also some scouts who excel better at server up and then others that are better once they get the gear and the runes. Some are better rune hunters, some are vamp scout shells who just summon their wizard instead. Some are really good at scouting, some are just good at running, others are good at griefing groups while they're scouting, some are good for city camping, and some are good GvG scouts like popping stealthers, getting the debuffs on target, etc.

Idk if Crowfall can bring that same magic to where you can take one profession with one job and have 100 people all play it differently.

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Yeah, Varg is one of the best players I've ever encountered as well, at least when it comes to mastery of game mechanics. He doesn't really get any credit for it, but he basically created the GooL caster spec that dominated on Mourning for a while.

There are some players who just don't ever lose duels. Varg doesn't. I don't. You probably don't. Then there's this mass of clueless players running around, challenging people to duels and trying to prove themselves, only waiting to get dumpstered.

Scourge of the Shadowbane community, Public Enemy No. 1 to the SBEMU Forum Moderators, and member of the "Suppressed Person" faction on the Ubiforums. The man responsible for hooking up Ceska and CheckYoTrack. Also a 21-time World Heavyweight Champion of Shadowbane.

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Anyone could beat anyone under the right circumstance. Had a lot of really good commanders, some only so so. But as far as a memorable player? The time Magma held a HoD city for ransom.....and they paid him.....in quicksilver. He spent the next month in SDR hollering 'quicksilver for sale". I lmao'd for real.

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Yeah, it's all mixed situations. I was think of scouts and GvG being situational.

For scouts, there's birds and then everyone else. There's also some scouts who excel better at server up and then others that are better once they get the gear and the runes. Some are better rune hunters, some are vamp scout shells who just summon their wizard instead. Some are really good at scouting, some are just good at running, others are good at griefing groups while they're scouting, some are good for city camping, and some are good GvG scouts like popping stealthers, getting the debuffs on target, etc.

Idk if Crowfall can bring that same magic to where you can take one profession with one job and have 100 people all play it differently.

You just nailed why I loved scouts so much. Played right, every night and every build was a different adventure.

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There are some players who just don't ever lose duels. Varg doesn't. I don't. You probably don't. Then there's this mass of clueless players running around, challenging people to duels and trying to prove themselves, only waiting to get dumpstered.

I lose duels, and I am happy to do so. For me, because so much of my game revolved around a series of 1v1 or 1v2 scenarios, I used duels as intelligence gathering for fights that mattered. Also, people who beat you in SDR are less likely to evac when you meet them in the open field.

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Eastre was the reason I played with QFT. I'd solo PvP on Venge with my migrated toons and ended up in LoC and then QFT. Him and Dru both were top tier on ANYTHING.

I played with a lot of good groups, but QFT had a higher level, we weren't always there, but nobody came close when we were.

@Fei, you play a 65 con elf scout before conc pots, stam pots, and buff bots everywhere. I died 8 times on Trechery. 8. I wish I had the SS of my deathlist at server down still. 210 dex scout is best scout. Not many people can say their day 1 release toon was viable until the game shutdown. 210 dex 65 con 91 int, glad, 1 pt nyth rune since 2003!

Skorp was a great bane commander because he made that poorly made socks fun and stayed calm under pressure. MM have 3x our numbers? RYLaH!

Gradishar was the best city builder. He gave me tunnels when I demanded them even though it was an awful idea.

My favorite Scout to work with was Vandarr. We had chemistry and always knew what the other was going to do without talking. That and something stupid and funny would usually happen.

Scouts near the end of SB were everywhere and there were a ton of "good" players. I loved the community on the scout class forums and I really think as a class we raised the bar really high.

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QFT was always petitioning Mourning CCRs about GooL. I think they did the same with FTP when they were on Mourning. So you have at least two guilds that made QFT nutcup with OPP and cry to someone after losing on Mourning.

Scourge of the Shadowbane community, Public Enemy No. 1 to the SBEMU Forum Moderators, and member of the "Suppressed Person" faction on the Ubiforums. The man responsible for hooking up Ceska and CheckYoTrack. Also a 21-time World Heavyweight Champion of Shadowbane.